A Uniter, Not a Divider
K-Lo hops on board the Free Katie bandwagon at the news that her full-time Scientologist monitor is a member of the cult's Sea Organization, which seems to mandate abortions for its members if they get pregnant. For my part, the abortion angle is the least thing to worry about here, but I'll take what I can get. Check out Operation Clambake's Sea Org page and you'll see there's some seriously odd stuff going on here:
Soon afterwards, an Inquiry started in South Africa. Hubbard turned his back on the "wog" world, and concentrated on introducing a new form of Dianetics, and integrating it into the Scientology "Bridge." He issued a bizarre order to the Sea Org, called "Zones of Action," which outlined his plans. Scientology was going to take over those areas controlled by Smersh (the fictitious evil organization fought by the equally fictitious James Bond), rake in enormous amounts of cash, clean up psychotherapy, infiltrate and reorganize every minority group, and befriend the worst enemies of the Western nations. Hubbard's stated intention was to undermine a supposed Fascist conspiracy to rule the world.
Hubbard had three vessels, Apollo (formly known as the Scotsman), Athena and yacht Diana, and during the last months of 1968 all three joined up in Corfu, Greece. The ships were berthed in Corfu when people were first being tossed into the harbor. Hubbard was just really rabid and yelling and screaming a lot. For some time rules over the side of the ship ("overboarding" them) became a Sea Org tradition. Usually they were thrown off the tween (second) deck, but there were a couple of occasions when they went off the promenade deck (some 25 feet above the water). There were rules written by Hubbard in a "Flag Order" which listed orders of severity of overboarding, such as: from which deck, should the person be blindfolded, and should his hands or feet be tied.
At first the relationship with the military junta in Greece went well, but when Hubbard published an article about democracy in a Greek newspaper he was ordered out in March 1969. It would appear that Hubbard also, in fact, had little appreciation for the idea of democracy. He had written in 1965 "And I don't see that popular measures, self-abnegation and democracy have done anything for Man but push him further into the mud... democracy has given us inflation and income tax." He had already been kicked out of Hull in England, and when they tried to pull into Gibraltar they were denied entry there, and then later there was also some mess in Spain.
To enlist you sign a contract one billion years in length, and it appears that the Sea Org tried to take over Morocco at one point. Unfortunately, in an earlier post, K-Lo conflates Scientology's crusade against psychology and psychopharmacology with everyday skepticism about overprescription of drugs like Ritalin. I don't have a real view on the latter controversy (it's just not something I'm informed about) but it's important to keep these issues distinct. The Scientology position is not that we overmedicate in contemporary society. It's that nobody should ever be medicated; psychiatry is -- literally -- a fascist plot, and that mental illness is caused by infestation by the souls of long-dead aliens. I don't think that's what Mary Eberstadt was trying to say.
In the past, I would treat Cruise's anti-psychiatry rantings as a joke, but these days with the assault on reality coming from the anti-science religious right, the Orwellian Bush administration, the Swift boat liars, etc., I think wackos like Tom Cruise need to be outed early and often. Tom doesn't believe in psychiatry, but he does believe the dead husks of little green space men gum up our psyches. Tom, arrogance and ignorance are a bad combination.
Is Ritalin overprescribed? 500,000 people die from alcohol and tobacco every year. Did any die from Ritalin? An attack on Ritalin is like an attack on marijuana; it has nothing to do with health, and everything to do with politics.
June 29, 2005 2:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
There is a great first hand tale <a href="http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Fishman/Xenu/xenu.html&qu ot;>here</a>.
Long story short, yes they are nothing more a money making cult.
June 29, 2005 2:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Cult? Pyramid Scheme? Fraud?
The 'members' really do have personality/mental problems, IMO. Maybe that is why they hate psychiatry and psychology - forbid anything that might reveal the disorders that are associated with believing in this stuff.
It is interesting that the organization continues to exist post-Hubbard. I haven't ever heard anything about a successor as "leader' or whatever it is named.
I won't say more, since I do believe that they use some brownshirt activity on those who speak against them - even non-members.
Cruise's pathology was surely on view in his vist with Katie Couric last week. Really scary.
June 29, 2005 2:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
June 29, 2005 2:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Glenn:
It bugged me too that Lauer didn't call Tom on his BS. But Lauer was clearly intimidated. He said to Tom that he obviously had researched the subject. Not obvious to me. Obvious to me that Lauer knows so little that someone who knows even less than he does can impress him. Very embarrassing for both men. Very. Very.
June 29, 2005 3:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
It is interesting that the organization continues to exist post-Hubbard. I haven't ever heard anything about a successor as "leader' or whatever it is named.
David Miscavige now heads the Sea Org/church. I believe he was hand-picked by Hubbard. You can find a photo of him on the page Matt linked to.
June 29, 2005 3:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Of course Cruise was full of shit, but its the Today show. ITs not as if Lauer was going to come back at him with a defense of pschiatry.
I loved it when he attacked Lauer and Lauer backed down. It made me sad that more folks, especially those representing the Democratic Party, don't call the bluff of the idiots who interview them.
Why oh why couldn't Kerry have once said,
"Candy, you've not researched this issue the way I have. You're glib. You don't know what you're talking about. I do."
June 29, 2005 5:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Come ON, epist. So until Ritalin is as bad as tobacco and alcohol, we should all just shut up?
Tobacco and alcohol are voluntary recreational drugs. Ritalin is prescribed by authoritative people. The abuses people talk about are real -- some doctors and schools hand out drugs with out a serious medical diagnosis.
June 29, 2005 8:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
John Emerson:
No, tobacco kills about 10,000 times as many as Ritalin. Get it? There is no comparison. One may kill you, the other will not. And this is from a praciticing internist for 25+ years. You, like so many these days, seem unable to put relative risk in perspective.
With Ritalin, which killed maybe 50 people in the US last year, you want it to be, not just prescription, but to hector doctors to prescribe less; but cigarettes, which killed about 10,000 times as many, you think should be available without prescrition. I suspect you know little of this subject.
June 29, 2005 11:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
June 30, 2005 1:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
And more than a few parents take the Ritalin prescribed for their kids since it usually doens't help what is wrong with their kids (youthfull exuberance) bur does help the parents keep up.
To each his own.
June 30, 2005 5:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
America, what a country!! The only 1st world country where a wacky cult can be passed off as some mainstream religion.
June 30, 2005 6:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
Ah... I don't care who Tom Cruise hangs with, who he is sleeping with, whether he's proposed or where, what fringe "relgious" organization he belongs to, or whether he makes nice-nice with interviewers or not. What I don't understand is why the hell anyone else who does not get his or her news from the tabloid racks at the supermarket gives a damn and wants to keep on talking about all this.
Enough already! Let it go. If you're annoyed, go see "War of the Worlds" and root for the Martians. But give the rest of us a break.
June 30, 2005 6:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
Anecdotally, in my experience, Ritalin is often prescribed to children as an anti-stress medication for parents.
What do you mean by "often? Anecdotally, in my experience, plaster casts on so-called "broken arms" are often used merely to relieve stress for parents.
And more than a few parents take the Ritalin prescribed for their kids since it usually doens't help what is wrong with their kids (youthfull exuberance) bur does help the parents keep up.
ADHD is real - it is not just "youthful exuberance". Ritalin and other stimulants work for children. If parents abuse the drugs, that is a probem with the parents, not the child, the diagnosis, or the medication.
Conservative Michael Fumento, with whom I would agree on very little, addressed this and other myths about Ritalin in The New Republic in 2003. ( http://www.fumento.com/adhd/adhdtnr.html )
A little more compassion and understanding would be helpful around here.
June 30, 2005 7:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
Libertine:
I suppose you believe in some supernatural ghost in the sky that is so much more rational than Tom Cruise's space alien religion?
June 30, 2005 7:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
Really it all begs the question: who's the crazier religious nut case mega-celebrity, Cruise or Mel Gibson?
June 30, 2005 9:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
I suppose you believe in some supernatural ghost in the sky that is so much more rational than Tom Cruise's space alien religion?
I'm getting really sick of this BS. Please don't place Scientology on an equal level with mainstream religions. If you want to be a bitter, pain-in-the-ass atheist, that's fine, but please do it elsewhere. Narcissistic nonsense like this is distracting from a brief burst of media attention on the serious evil that this cult does. That you would think to equate monotheism in general with scientology in particular shows that you either don't care about about the human toll of scientology, or are ignorant of it.
And yes, I've heard of the Crusades, and Catholic opposition to contraception, and that funny hat the pope wears. Have you heard of Lisa McPherson?
June 30, 2005 11:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
tjl:
In the future should we check with you which belief systems are valid and which crackpot?
I don't claim to be an atheist and am anything but bitter; my life has been very fortunate. You, on the other hand, seem troubled, to say the least.
Well, you just need a dictionary. What could be more narcissistic than thinking there is a god that rules the universe and cares deeply for you?
Scientology just hasn't been around long enough to have done the evil organized mainstream religions have done. Nor the good.
You equate Lisa McPherson's death with the Crusades and Inquisition??!! Really? And by the way, not all mainstream religioins are monotheistic. Ever hear of Hinduism? Christianity and Hinduism can't both be right. So, great oracle, which is the responsible religion and path to bliss, and which is pernicious nonsense?
Matthew Yglesias site is clearly marked "Reality-based commentary." You are a troll here, but your supernatural musings would surely be welcomed on a blog so oriented.
June 30, 2005 3:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Anon. TPMCafe Denizen:
I believe ADHD is real, but we know so little about the pathology involved that a little modesty regarding it is in order. Youthful exuberance--the inability of 8 year olds to sit at a desk much of the day--is absolutely treated with Ritalin regularly (and innapropriately). And the ususal criteria of success--imrovement is schoolwork (not the clinical criteria, but the one most used by parents and teachers)--could be demonstrated in many normal students with the institution of amphetamines, which can help test-taking.
While I agree ADHD is real, it is often over-diagnosed and the treatments we have for the worst cases are often inadequate. Ritalin, however, is quite a safe drug. And I agree the data indicate no increase in drug abuse for those treated with it (though the study designs are, perforce, less than ideal). I would be very suprised to see a convincing study that showed a 50% drop in drug abuse with those so treated. What is the Pediatrics citation purporting to show this? Thanks.
June 30, 2005 4:12 PM | Reply | Permalink